In-Q-Tel
In-Q-Tel of Arlington, Virginia, United States is a not-for-profit venture capital firm that invests in high-tech companies for the sole purpose of keeping the Central Intelligence Agency equipped with the latest in information technology in support of United States intelligence capability.Hoover's (August 30, 2006) Hoover's Company Records: In-Q-Tel, Inc. Originally named Peleus and known as In-Q-It, In-Q-Tel was launched in 1999 under the direction of Gilman Louie. In-Q-Tel’s mission is to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve United States national security interests. Working from an evolving strategic blueprint defining the Intelligence Community's critical technology needs, In-Q-Tel engages with entrepreneurs, growth companies, researchers, and venture capitalists to deliver technologies that provide superior capabilities for the CIA, DIA, NGA, and the larger Intelligence Community. In-Q-Tel concentrates on three broad commercial technology areas: software, infrastructure and materials sciences. Former CIA director George Tenet says, We CIA decided to use our limited dollars to leverage technology developed elsewhere. In 1999 we chartered ... In-Q-Tel. ... While we pay the bills, In-Q-Tel is independent of CIA. CIA identifies pressing problems, and In-Q-Tel provides the technology to address them. The In-Q-Tel alliance has put the Agency back at the leading edge of technology ... This ... collaboration ... enabled CIA to take advantage of the technology that Las Vegas uses to identify corrupt card players and apply it to link analysis for terrorists the parallel [[data-mining] effort by the SOCOM-DIA operation Able Danger ], and to adapt the technology that online booksellers use and convert it to scour millions of pages of documents looking for unexpected results.George Tenet, At The Center Of The Storm: My Years at the CIA (Harper Press, 1997), p.26. In-Q-Tel sold 5,636 shares of Google Inc., worth over $2.2 million, on Nov 15, 2005.CIA sells Google shares The stocks were a result of Google’s acquisition of Keyhole, the CIA funded satellite mapping software now known as Google Earth. As of August 2006, In-Q-Tel had reviewed more than 5,800 business plans, invested some $150 million in more than 90 companies, and delivered more than 130 technology solutions to the intelligence community.In-Q-Tel website: Investing in our National Security. Obtained August 2006. In 2005 it was said to be funded with about $37 million a year from the CIA.n-Q-Tel, CIA's Venture Arm, Invests in Secrets Selected investments Of those companies listed on In-Q-Tel's investment website page,In-Q-Tel website. In-Q-Tel — Investments. Obtained January 8, 2006. Hoover's company records identifies the following companies as being selected investments of In-Q-Tel: * 3VR * A4Vision * Adapx * Agent Logic * ArcSight * Attensity * Basis Technology * Bay Microsystems * CallMiner * Cambrios Technology * Convera * Decru * Dust Networks * Electro Energy, Inc. * Endeca * FMS, Inc. * Gemalto * Fluidigm * IatroQuest * Intelliseek Inc. * Inxight * Keyhole, Inc * Kofax * Language Weaver * MetaCarta * MotionDSPCIA's In-Q-Tel Backs Video Enhancement Tools Developer MotionDSP * MetricStream * Nanosys * Network Chemistry * NovoDynamics * Palantir Technologies * Paratek * piXlogic * Qynergy *Recorded Future * Rosum * Seahawk Biosystems * Soflinx * Spotfire * Stratify, Inc. * SRD, Inc. * Tacit Software * Traction Software * Visual Sciences * WiSpry In-Q-Tel functions partially in public, however what products it has and how they are used is strictly secret. According to the Washington Post, virtually any U.S. entrepreneur, inventor or research scientist working on ways to analyze data has probably received a phone call from In-Q-Tel or at least been Googled by its staff. The Constitutional repercussions of this disclosure alarm some critics. Governance In-Q-Tel is a Virginia-registered corporation, legally independent of the CIA or any other government agency. In-Q-Tel is answerable to the American people and to the CIA, it is bound by its Charter agreements with the State of Virginia and the CIA, which sets out the relationship between the two organizations, and by an annual contract with the CIA. In-Q-Tel is a nonprofit corporation. Unusually, however, its employees can profit from its investments, which differentiates it from IARPA and other models. According to public records, In-Q-Tel's current principals include: * Christopher A. R. Darby, President/CEO * Bruce Adams, Secretary * Michael M. Crow, Chairman * Paul G. Kaminiski, Director * Jeong H. Kim, Director Other related personnel Numerous noteworthy business and intelligence community professionals have been involved with In-Q-Tel at various times, including the following: * Michael D. Griffin – former President; later Administrator of NASA. * Norman R. Augustine * Gilman Louie * Amit Yoran * John Seely Brown * Stephen Friedman * Paul McMahon * William Perry * Alex J. Mandl * Craig Goss * Rob Painter – former Director for Technology Assessment; left to become Senior Federal Sales Manager at Google. * Christopher K. Tucker, first chief strategic officer Views of In-Q-Tel "In my view the organization has been far more successful than I dreamed it would be," said Norman R. Augustine, who was recruited in 1998 to help set up In-Q-Tel and is an In-Q-Tel trustee. Critics have questioned the societal benefit gained from the secretive investments or whether the organization has at all times been lawful. Other critics warn citizens not to contact this organization for venture capital and instead to contact DARPA or IARPA. References External links * In-Q-Tel Corporate Site * White Paper on the In-Q-Tel concept * Federal Computer Week article about In-Q-Tel * Government Executive article about In-Q-Tel * Corporate fact sheet * Business Executives for National Security: The Report of the Independent Panel on the CIA In-Q-Tel Venture Category:Central Intelligence Agency Category:Venture capital firms Category:Surveillance Category:Mass surveillance Category:Privately held companies of the United States cy:In-Q-Tel de:In-Q-Tel es:In-Q-Tel fr:In-Q-Tel